A Team USA Olympic basketball star has melted the hearts of many NBA fans online after posing with his dog and gold medal in a professional photoshoot.
Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who really didn’t play all that much in Paris this summer, shared some snaps of himself with his adorable goldendoodle, Ames, on Instagram on Saturday.
One of the photos features Ames, draped in an American flag, wearing the medal himself.
Running as the admin’ of his dog’s profile – @amesers – on the social media platform, Haliburton captioned the post: ‘USA USA USA (don’t talk about the last pic, dad promised me it was the last one for the 100th time).’
The account is also co-parented by Halliburton’s girlfriend, Jadee Jones.
Tyrese Haliburton (center right) showed off his dog and gold medal on Instagram on Sunday
‘More of this energy please,’ commented Nathalie Wideman – a Canadian softball player and bronze medalist at the Paris Olympics – under the post of the photoshoot.
‘We named our dog Ames because of your dog!’ another fan revealed.
‘I am here for the dude and his doodle,’ someone else wrote.
One user poked fun at Halliburton’s playing minutes this summer, as he commented under the 24-year-old’s post of him with his pet: ‘Even the dog carried more than Halliburton in the Olympics.’
Halliburton joked about his lack of playing time at the Olympics after winning his gold medal
Ames was named after the city where Halliburton made a name for himself as a college basketball star at Iowa State.
He adopted the dog during rookie NBA season in 2020-21.
Earlier this month, after Team USA beat France in the Olympic final, Haliburton went viral for joking about his limited participation in the tournament.
‘When you ain’t do nun on the group project and still get an A,’ he captioned his post on X.